Runners have squeezed in miles in some strange places — parking garages, hotel hallways, airport terminals before a gate change. But Dom Stroh, founder of the travel-run community RETREATURE, has taken it further than most would dare, or frankly consider: he ran a 5K inside an airplane bathroom at 35,000 feet.
The video, posted to Instagram with the caption “MILES high club,” shows Stroh setting up a camera in the corner of the lavatory, flashing his Strava watch to start the timer, then looping around the tiny space — stepping up onto the toilet seat and circling repeatedly — until he hit 5.53 kilometers. The flight was roughly 11 hours long. His finishing time: 59 minutes and 32 seconds, at a 10:46 per kilometer pace.
The Internet Had Thoughts
The clip spread quickly, drawing exactly the kind of reaction you’d expect from a plane full of strangers who suddenly can’t use the bathroom.
“I’d be so mad if you do that on my flight, blocking the toilet like that,” one commenter wrote on the post — which, as Runner’s World noted, “feels like the calmest possible version of what most people would say in real life.”
Others were more blunt. “You need a doctor,” replied one commenter. Another blamed him for “the reason behind that turbulence.”
A Long History of Absurd 5K Stunts
Stroh is not alone in turning the 5K into performance art. Creator Jacob Abrams Cohen has carved out an entire niche running 5Ks in bizarre locations — on top of fridges, under couches, and across piles of tortilla chips. The difference, as critics pointed out, is that those stunts happen in private spaces — not the single bathroom shared by several rows of passengers on a long-haul flight.
It’s a reminder that the running world has a long tradition of finding creative ways to keep the streak going, no matter the circumstances. But there’s usually a threshold where individual commitment starts affecting everyone else.
What a douche
Social media has created narcissists. That’s what this is really about.